Diane Pernet

Monday, April 26, 2010

I've seen her in brief, flashes of "wow who is she?" on television and maybe somewhere in my daydreams and I always wondered who she is and why she's so endearing. I saw her very briefly (as if it was one of those dreams) in New York with paps following her and stares thickening as she walked past. I finally found out that her name is Diane Pernet and she's a fashion journalist (that's what I like most about her), blogger, photographer, film collaborator and used to be a fashion designer in New York in the 1980s. She left NY in 1990 to move to Paris where she's been for the past 20 years. The one thing that does my head in about her is that she wears black every day and has a signature beeeeeehive that she covers with a black veil every.single.day, wears red lipstick and 50s style cat-eye spectacles. She's got a blog called www.ashadedviewonfashion.com which is quite the influence I hear, of many other blogs and magazines. (She co-edits Zoo Mag and is a regular contributor to French Vogue and French Elle)

The reason I finally discovered who she is is that she and Tavi Gevinson are going to select who wins a chance to screen a fashion film at the 3rd annual "A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival" in Paris. This is a fest that Diane pioneered - a festival in which the marriage of fashion and film is acknowledged and celebrated. But mostly, I just wanted to tell people about her. She's got an incredible presence. Oh, the reason why she wears black is because she mourns her husband who died in the 1980s - to this day.